She slumped on the bathroom floor. Her body went into a shock, she was trembling hard. The image of Diego’s body being found cut up into pieces pushed her to the verge of insanity. She held her cry until her stomach hurt, she didn’t want Armand to see her that way.
She could hear him standing in front of the bathroom waiting for her, he didn’t knock or ask anything. He just stood there in silence. She covered her mouth to stop herself from whimpering. ‘Diego … I’m so sorry’ she said in her heart.
She stayed there for almost an hour. She washed her face to hide the traces of her tears, but then she cried again. Her eyes were puffed when she was finally ready to come out. Armand was no longer outside. She sighs a breath of relief.
She tiptoed around the villa to see where he could be and found him asleep in the bedroom. Everyone was gone. Pasquale had dismissed all the staff. She went to the kitchen and found Laura, the young cook who stayed behind.
She made herself a cup of hot tea and made acquaintance with the young staff. She needed to feel some normalcy and distract herself from the horrible image that had latched on to her mind.
Laura was a talented young cook who had been working as an assistant of a prominent chef in a five star hotel restaurant. She was recruited to be their personal cook for the whole week and prepare them four course meals three times a day. She was initially recruited to go on their honeymoon to Paris, but life changed drastically since that plan was made.
Ari offered to help her prepare their dinner. She had always wanted to learn how to cook. She never spent much time in the kitchen because all through her life, they always had someone like Laura taking care of their meal plans. The ten days she spent with Diego opened her eyes, having a cooking skill will help her tremendously if she was to live on her own. On the other hand, having a friend would be useful for her in the long run.
She was chopping onions when Armand leaned on the kitchen door.
“Feeling better?” his voice surprised her.
“Hey … you were asleep … I thought I would help out with dinner … are you hungry?” she tried to sound as casual as possible.
He folded his arms and rested his eyes on her, “A little bit … I waited for you and fell asleep, are you alright?”
She nodded without turning to look at him, “I’m fine … why would you ask me that?”
Laura felt the tension from her, she was more relaxed before Armand showed up.
“Ari …” he called.
“Hmm?” she kept chopping her onions.
“Would you look at me when you’re talking?”
She put a smile on her face and turned, “I’m chopping onions you silly, dinner will be ready in an hour … why don’t you shower or watch TV or something.”
His eyes were pinned on her, he curved one side of his lips, “It’s nice to see you in the kitchen … maybe you should let Laura do her job, so you can get ready for dinner, wear something nice … make sure you wash your hands thoroughly though, I don’t want you smelling like onion the whole night.”
He stood there in his T-shirt and sweatpants, his hair was messy, he looked really sexy with his bedroom eyes, and yet he gave her the shivers. He was studying her and she could feel his observing eyes trying to figure out why she spent a whole hour in the toilet. He smiled and then turned to leave.
She didn’t realize her hands were trembling trying to hide a little secret she must keep to the day she dies.
“Are you alright?” Laura noticed her nervousness.
She dropped the knife, “Yes … sorry, can you finish that for me? I need to wash my hands.”
She couldn’t think straight anymore, she went to the sink and rubbed her hands with soap. He won’t like the smell of onion on her hands, she will have to wash them again and again until she can’t smell it anymore.
She sat across the table when dinner was finally ready. She put on the dress she brought to the villa and put on some make up as she would to have dinner with him.
He poured champagne to her glass while waiting for Laura to serve them their first course. He traced his finger along her arm as he walk past her, “You look radiant, my love,” he whispered in her ear.
“Thank you … and thank you for the champagne,” she raised her glass and took a sip.
He put down the bottle on his side of the table and sat back on his seat, he raised his glass, “To a new start … I can’t stop telling myself how grateful I am that you’re here … unharmed … and now we can focus on what we should be doing, to start our family, fulfill our destiny, our parents would want us to do that.”
She smiled, didn’t respond and sipped her champagne again.
Laura came in with the soup, it was a nice distraction for Ari. She was uneasy with her husband expecting her to respond to what he was saying. The last thing she wanted to do at the time was starting a family with him.
Armand cocked his head to one side, “It is such a blessing don’t you think? For you to be held in captivity for ten days and unharmed? I rarely found that ever happened … they didn’t even ask for ransom … I really thought you were dead,” he took a spoon and scooped his soup.
She took her napkin and put it on her lap, “I’m very grateful to be alive, I owe it all to you, my love … you were tirelessly looking for me, and saved me from my captor,” she raised her glass at him again. She remembered what Pasquale told her, she had to play the part of a grateful wife and keep him away from the truth.
He raised his eyebrows with a smug, “I would never stop looking for you until I know what happened … I’m still baffled, though, he kept you for ten days, took you to Goldstone, didn’t ask for a ransom, what was he trying to do? Where did he take you before Goldstone?”
She shrugged, “I don’t know … I was blindfolded, my feet and hands were bound, I didn’t know where I was … he never said a thing, he must’ve taken the vow of silence.”
He was silent for a moment, his eyes were watching her, “And he never touched you?”
She stared at him, now that they were talking about it, it sounded very peculiar, she shook her head, “No.”
Laura came in with the appetizer and placed it in front of them, she explained what it was before leaving the room again.
“Did you try to befriend him or something?” he kept asking.
She laughed lightly, “What? Why would I do that?”
He tilted his shoulder, “It’s just odd … there must be something that he wanted? He didn’t just kidnap you for nothing?”
She grimaced, “I really don’t know, Armand, if Arturo didn’t kill him maybe you would’ve got some answers … maybe if Pasquale can find who killed our parents, we’ll find out what his motive really was.”
Armand didn’t respond to that, he knew very well the killing had nothing to do with the kidnapping. He was willing to let it go for the night, “Perhaps we’ll discuss it another time … when you’re more comfortable,” he smiled.